Articles
April 2026
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Cell Adhesion Governs Cardiac Signal Fidelity in Printed Organic Transistors
Researchers at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS, Politecnico di Milano, and the University of Milano-Bicocca have shown that how well heart cells physically adhere to a polymer surface — not the device’s electrical gain — determines whether an organic transistor can accurately record cardiac action potentials. The findings reframe interface engineering as a central design priority for bioelectronic platforms used in drug screening and cardiac disease modelling.
Fine Tungsten Wire for Brain Probes and Microdissection Needles
Tungsten has been the reference material for sharpened neural microelectrodes since Hubel and Wiesel's pioneering visual cortex experiments, and it remains a mainstay of chronic single-unit recording today. The same blend of hardness, stiffness and corrosion resistance has also made it the preferred metal for microdissection needles used in precision electrosurgery.
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Titanium Nitride Films Without Substrate Heating: What a Magnetized Sheet Plasma System Can Do
Researchers at the University of the Philippines Los Baños and University of the Philippines Diliman have demonstrated crystalline TiN thin film growth in a 10-litre upscaled magnetized sheet plasma system — without external substrate heating. A 99.6% purity titanium target from Advent Research Materials was used to investigate how plasma current and argon-to-nitrogen ratio govern film structure and stoichiometry. The approach points toward an energy-efficient deposition route with straightforward process control.
Platinum/Iridium Alloy Wire: The Material Behind Pacemakers, STM Tips, and Spark Plugs
Platinum/iridium alloy wire offers a combination of properties that neither metal provides alone: the corrosion resistance and biocompatibility of platinum, strengthened by iridium's exceptional hardness. The 90/10 alloy is the same composition used to make the International Prototype of the Kilogram — and those same qualities now underpin applications from pacemaker electrodes and deep brain stimulation probes to scanning tunnelling microscope tips and high-performance spark plugs. Advent Research Materials supplies Pt/Ir alloy wire to specification for research applications.